Musical instrument.



nu. 674,334. Patented may 14,1901'.

v G. H. uAvrs.

.MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

(Application med June. 1897, xanewed oct. 1a, 1900.5 (Nu lod-elf) 2 Sheets-$heet 2.

3 iwf 6g UDUDUU UU DEDDCIDEE! UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

GEORGE I-IOWLETT DAVIS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFCATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 674,334, dated May 14, 1901. Application tiled June 3,1897. Renewed October 18,1900. Serial No. 33,516. @lo r'nodel.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE HOWLETT DA- vIs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Nen1 York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a certain new, useful, and valuable Improvement in Musical Instruments, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My present invention relates to musical instruments, and particularly to those adapted to be operated automatically through the medium of perforated note-sheets.

The objects of my invention are, first, to provide a note-sheet with simple and practical means wherebyit can be attached to or detached from its take-up roller; second, to provide means whereby the music-sheet is rewou nd automatically at the end of each piece; third, to provide means for supporting the take-up roller in suitable position in the musical instrument and for automatically disengaging it from the .mechanism which propels the same; fourth, to provide means for automatically disengaging said take-up roller at the end of each piece of music and allowing the rewind mechanism to operate, and, fifth, to provide means for automatically covering the inlet-openings of the tracker-board, so that the instrument maybe operated manually. To accomplish these ends, I have provided the combination and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- I Figure 1 is a side elevation of the various mechanisms above mentioned. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail view of a partly-unwound music-sheet having my improved notation-marks thereon. Fig. 4 is a view of the right-hand flange of my music-roller. Fig. 5 is a view of the lefthand iiange of same. Fig. 6 is a detail front view of the right-hand end of my trackerboard cover.

Proceeding with a detail description of the several mechanisms referred to, I will first take up and describe my improved means for attaching and detaching the note-sheet, which comprises a piece of wire 1, having eyes or loops 2 formed in each end. Through these eyes is passed a piece of cord 3, which latter is secured to the music-sheet 4 by enfolding each end in the folds 5, formed on either side will be wound upon said take-up roller when revolved.

The notation-marks 10 (see Fig. 3) are imrinted upon a note-sheet by a stamp or stencil in the form of arrows,preferably in broken lines or dashes, the relative lateral degree of slant of the arrows indicating Whether the music at the next succeeding mark shall be played loud or soft-as, for example, the first arrow l1 at the left-hand side of a sheet indicates that the music at that point shall be played soft, while the arrow 12 by its position indicates that the volume of music shall be medium, and the arrow 13 by its position indicates that the music at that point and during the continuation of the arrow shall be played loud, each of the arrows being bent or pointed in the direction of the next snccecding arrow, which indicates a change in volume or sound.

My improved music-roller 14, upon which the note-sheet 4 is wound, comprises a wooden spindle having metallic flanges 15 and 16 secured to either end thereof, preferably by tacks 17.,the flange 15 having a perfectly round opening 18 made in its center, while flange 16 has formed in its center a notched opening 19, which notched opening is engaged by a similarly-shaped end 2O of the spindle 21, thus causing the iiange 16 and the roller 14 to revolve with the said spindle v21. The opening 18 of the opposite iiange 15 similarly sets over the round end 22 of the lng 23, formed upon the end of the' spring 24, said spring being secured to the wooden side piece 25 by the two screws 26, and screw 27 acts to prevent lug 23 from bearing too hard against the flange 15. position by first setting the opening 18 of the iiange over the pin 22 and then pressing the spring 24 back sufliciently to allow the flange 16 to be set over the toothed or winged pin The music-roller is placed in 20 of the spindlel 21g. TheY above-described music-roller and supporting*mechanism are far superior to the music-rollers now gener'- ally in use, which employ thick anges at each end, with long bearing-pins projecting therefrom, thus requiring.l longer.` boxes than is. necessary to pack them in.`

The means which I prov-ide for rewinding the music-sheet automatically at the. end of each piece comprises a pinion 28, secured to the end 29 of the spindle 21,`which projects through andtotherightshamside of th e side frame 30, said side frame having a bushing 3l set therein, so as to form a suitable bearing for the spindle 21, said bushing being retained in position by the nut 32. Meshing with said pinion-,gear 28 is a large gear 32, having extended' therefrom a drum 34, and' secured to said drum at the point 35 is a cord 36, which passes upward over the pulley 37 and a number of times around the drum 38. Made rigid and revol-ving with said larger drum 38 is a smaller drum 39, to which is secured a cord 40, which extends downwardly and around the pulley 41,' set in the weight42, and from thence a cord passes upward and arou nd the pulley 43,from thence downwardly andfaround the pulley 44, also set i-ntothe weight 42, and from thence the cord again passes upwardv and is secured to a screw-eye 45. This arrangement of drums, cords, and; weight being devised simply to allow a long note-sheet-say oney ninety feet long, which is not an unusual length-to' gradually wind up the weight 42 during the entire time that the said note-sheet 4 is being unwound from its roller 14 bythe movementofthe take-up roller 8, which latter is revolved by any suitable motive power, such as a wind' or spring motor, and supposing said take-up roller- 8 to be disengaged in any suitable manner from i-ts driving mechanism, then it is obvious that the weight 42 would through the medium of the cords andA drums heretofore described cause the said note-sheet 4 to be vrapid-ly unwound* from the take-up roller 8 onto its own roller 14;, Which,as already described, is so engaged with the spindle 21 as to cause it to partake of'its movements imparted by theunwindingof the cordE 36 from the drum 35, or when lsaid, note-sheet is being advanced the roller 14, through its engaging ange 16, causes4 the spindle 21 to revolive as they notesheet is being propelled forward by the takeup roller 8, andl thus Wind the cord 36 upon the drum 35, asis obvious. In all other musical instru-ments it has generally beennec.- essary to rewindithe music-sheet by either foot or hand-power or else by the antique method which isstill' in vogue in even such a gener-v ally-used instrument' as the aeolian, which instruments, however, all employed'z a drag upont-he delivery-roller, so as to keep thenotesheet taut while being advanced by the takeup roller,l which drag causes a loss ofy power, whilewith my present improvement the act of' wind-ing up the Weight keeps my notesheet sufficiently taut,` and. asl all of thev power employed. in winding up the weight is given back thereby in lthe rewinding of the notesheet there is absolutely no power lost, and the great' advantage of having the note-sheet ,rewind rapidly upon simply releasing the take-up roller without the necessity of workin g the feet to accomplish this end is too clear .fand important an advantage to require further claims. v r1 he mea ns l employ for supporting the takeup, roller 8 in any suitable position and disvengaging it at any desired time from its propelling mechanism consists of two swinging arms 46, each pivotally secured at one end by the pivot-screw 47, and the side brackets 48,

screwedt-o lthe side frames 25 30, as shown,

while the take-up roller 8-is pi-votallyrsecured to the free ends 49 of saidswingngarms by the lscrew-pivots 50. Now at the right hand of said take-up roller 8 I secure a large gear-5l, which is adapted to engage with a smaller gear 52 whenever saidv takeup rolleris pressedl inward against tne spring 53, engaging the arms 46, and at the same time the inward movement of' said take-up roller causes its gear 51 to mesh with the gear 52, the lug 53 engaging the latch 54, and the two gears are thus held into mesh.- Whenever said llug 53 is released, the arms 46 and take-up roller are again sprung forward until the engaging tooth 55, also formed inV the arm 46, locks with the small gear 52 upon thev motor-shaft, and thereby not only prevents a further revolution of the latter, but also acts as a stop for the forward movement ofthe take-up roller. At either end of said take-up roller 8 I provide iianges 56, said flanges being laterally adjustable upon said take-up roller; Vbut as these flanges form the subject-'matter ofa previous application I will not further describe them here. f

I provide two means for operating the latch 54 and causing it to disengage the army 46. One of said means consists in connecting-saidI latch 54 with the stop 57', located in any convenient position, of the musicalI instrument,

the connection between the two being formed by the rodA 58', bell-crank lever 59, and? the stop-rod 60, it being obvious that with this arrangement the take -up roller willy be released at any time that the stop 57 isdrawnf, as it is sometimes desiredl to stop and* rewind a piece of music before it is finished: 'I-he other method' I employ for'releasing the latch 54 comprises a small pneumatic bellows 61,

which has a connection with aneXtra inlet 62- ner as Whenoperated by the stop 57. The

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inlet 62 is placed so that the extreme righthand edge of the note-sheet 4 passes thereover, so that the regular note-perforations therein do not pass over said inlet 62; but it is only when a perforation is eut at the extreme end of the note-sheet and close to its righthand edge that air is admitted through said inlet 62, thus releasing the take-up roller, as heretofore described. By this means l not only automatically release the take-uproller vand allow it to berewound by the weight, but

I also obviate the necessity of a performer charging his mind with the operation of a rewind-stop directly when the piece of music is finished, and I also obviate the tearing of a note-sheet, which heretofore occurred in all other musical instruments whenever the performer neglected to draw the rewind-stop at the end of the piece.

` My improved tracker-board cover comprises a wire frame 65, which is pivotally secured to the slide-door 66 of the musical instrument by the brackets 67, which door 66 is removedin the det-ail view, Fig. 6, showing the end of the tracker-board 68 and also the righthand end of the tracker-board cover, which, as aforesaid, comprises a wire frame 65, having` an upwardly-extending section 69. Near its corners are the said brackets 67 and the lower wire of the frame, having an extended portion 70 bent upward at its extreme end and which extended portion 70 rides over a pulley 7l, secured to the tracker-board, whenever t-he slide-door is closed, the spring 72 serving to 4normally press the leather 73 stretched between the upper and lower sections of the wire frame against the mouth of the tracker-board 68, the pulley 7l, however, preventing actual contact of the leather with the tracker-board except when the door 66 is moved to the extreme left or closed, at which point the bent-up extension 7l of the frame rides upon. the@ pulley 70 and permits the spring 72 to press the lower part of the frame inward sufficiently to cause the leather 73 to lie directly over the inlets 74 of the trackerb'oard 68. However, as soon as the door 66 is slid to the right the lower part of the frame 65 again rides up over the pulley 7l and forces the frame away from the tracker-board. Heretofore tracker-board covers have been thrown into or away from position by operating specially-located stops connected to said tracker-board cover; but with the present arrangement no such stops are necessary, as the mere act of closing the sliding door 66 serves to cover up the inlets 74, so that the instrument may be operated man ually,which could not be done unless said inlets 74 were closed in some way.

Having now described the various features of myinvention and the manner in which they are to be employed, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A note-sheet for musical instruments having opposite portions thereof at one end folded back upon the body of the sheet and secured thereto` a cord 3, having its opposite ends inclosed by and secured between said folds so as to provide a projecting loop in the cord, and a strengthening-strip secured to the end of the music-sheet and having its outer opposite corners folded back and secured to the end folds of hemusic-sheet, said folded corners of the strengthening-strip embracing opposite portions of the cord at the 1 wo points where the cord enters between the said folded portions of the music-sheet so as to prevent the cord from tearing ont at such points.

2. A note-sheet for musical instruments having the corners thereof at one end folded back upon the body of the sheet and pasted thereto, acord 3, having ils ends inclosed and secured along the greater part of their length by the said folds, a strengthening-strip bearing a label, secured to the end of the musicsheet and having its lower opposite corners folded over and pasted upon the end folds of the said music-sheet to more firmly secure the cord in position between the folds and prevent the same from tearing out, the parts being arranged to provide an exposed loop in the cord, and a wire loop having its opposite ends bent into eyes through which the said cord is passed, substantially as described.

3. In a note-sheet-rewinding mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with a delivery-roller carrying` the note-sheet, of a rotary spindle upon which said roller is mounted, a pinion fixed to said spindle, a drum-gear with which said pinion meshes, a cord secured at one end to a drum on the drum-gear, and arranged to wind itself upon the drum during the unwinding` of the note-sheet from the delivery-roller, and a weight or spring normally exerting a tension upon the cord in avdirection opposite to that of its wind upon said drum, substantially as described.

4. In a note-sheet-rewinding mechanism for musical instruments, the combination witha delivery-roller carrying a note-sheet, of a rotary spindle upon which said roller is removably mounted, a pinion fixed to said spindle, a drum-gear with which said pinion meshes, a cord secured at oneend to the drum on the drum-gear, and having its other end secured to a drum 38, a drum 39, fixed to said drum 38, a cord 40, xed at one end to the drum 39, and having its opposite end secured to a stationary support, and a weight movably suspended upon said cord 40, as and for the purpose described.

5. In a musical instrument the combination with a delivery music-roller of a takeup roller pivotally supported in two swinging arms, a latch adapted to engage a projection upon said arms so as to retain the latter in such position that a gear affixed to the takeup roller will then mesh with the stationarilylocated gear,and a means for disengaging said latch.

6. In a pneumatically-operated musical instrument, the combination with a trackerboard, of a door moving to and from said IIO ' the door is moved in front of the same, sub,-

stantially as described.

8. A pnenmatically-operated musical in strument having a slide-door located in front of the tracker-board, in combination with a tracker over which a perforated note-sheet passes, a coverfor said'tracker-board and means whereby said cover is thrown over its inlets by the closing of the slide-door.

9. Ina musical instrument, the combination with a delivery m usic-sheet roller, of a swinging frame, a take-'up roller journaled in `said frame, a -gear carried by ethe said take-up roller, a latch-keeper carried by the swinging frame, a pinion arranged to communicate motion to the said gear, a'latch adapted to engage with the keeper and hold the frame in such position that 'the pinion will mesh with the gear, and pneumatic means for rel leasing the latch from the keeper, substantially as described. A

10. In a musical instrument, the combination with a delivery sheet-roller, of a swinging frame, a take-up roller journaled in said frame, a power-wheel arranged to rotate said take-up roller, and a stop device carried by the swinging frame and adapted to engage with the power-wheel to hold the same against rotation when the said power-wheel is out of operative lconnection with the take-up roller.

11. In a musical instrument, the combination with a delivery sheet-roller, of a swinging frame, a take-up roller journaled in said frame, a power-wheel arranged to rotate said take-up roller, a spring normally acting to force the take-up roller ont of operative relation to -the said power-wheeha latch nor 'mally acting to hold -the power-wheel and the power-wheeleto hold the same against rotation when the said power-wheel is out of operative connection with the take-up roller.

12.- In amusical instrument, the combination with a delivery sheet-roller, of Va swinging frame, a take-up roller jou'rnaled in said frame, a gear carried by the said take-up roller, a latch-keepeicarried by the swinging frame, a pinion arranged to communicate motion to the said gear, a latch adapt-ed to engage with the keeper and hold the frame in such position that the pinion will mesh with the gear, means for releasingthe latch from the keeper, and an engaging tooth or stop device carried by the swinging frame and adapted to contact with the said pinion and hold t-he same against rotation, substantially as described.

13. In rewinding mechanism for note-sheets of musical instruments, the combination with the delivery and take-up rollers, of a perforated note-sheet arranged to be wound and rewound upon said rollers, means for causing the rotation of said take-up roller to wind the note-sheet thereon, means cooperating with the delivery-roller to store up power to rewind the note-sheet thereupon, and pneumatic means controlled by the perforated note-sheet for causing a disengagement of said rotating means for the take-up roller whereby said delivery and take-np rollers will be free to travel ina reverse direction underthe influence of the power stored up by the delivery-roller to rewind the 'note-sheet n pon .said roller.

In testimony whereof I affix' my signature'y in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE HOWLETT DAVIS. Witnesses:

S. A. EMANUEL, THeMAs J. REILLY. 

